The Most Amazing Shikamaru!
by The Reading Maid
Summary: It's right after the second part of the Chunin exams and everyone is wondering...who will have to fight the mysterious sound ninja who no one seems to know anything about? When the die are cast, guess who the lucky genin is? This is for Shika lovers. Yay!


Posted: March 16, 2007

Edited: September 1, 2007

Firstly, let me introduce myself. I am the Reading Maid and this is my first fan fic. I'm pretty excited.

Secondly, I do not own the characters in this story. They are from Naruto.

Thirdly, I must say that I made Dosu kind of a jerk, but in the show he's not. So, I'd like to apologize to him now. I'm sorry. I kind of used Kin's attacks, but with Dosu doing the actual fighting. Oh well.

Fourthly, I changed the story from the show a bit. The scene is right after the second exam, before the preliminaries start. Sasuke didn't get the curse mark, he and Naruto didn't get knocked out, the sound nin did not come and attack them, and no one has seen the sound ninja fight ever. Gaara's team is not there.

Fifth: I don't own Naruto.

Now, on with the Story!!

* * *

The Most Amazing Shikamaru!

The nine rookies stood together in the large room were the preliminaries of the third part of the chunin exams were taking place. They weren't all friends, exactly, but being the only leaf village rookies provided them with a kind of bond.

Team 7 was made up of the loud and energetic Naruto, the quiet and mysterious Sasuke, and the smart and bubbly Sakura. Team 8 consisted of the silent Shino, the opinionated dog boy Kiba, and the shy Hinata. Team Ten was made up of the lazy genius Shikamaru, the goofy glutton Choji, and the loud and dominating Ino.

They were all (except for Ino and Sakura, who were arguing, and Choji, who was eating) eying the other ninja who had made it out of the forest of death, sizing up the competition.

No one was sharing their thoughts, but they were all thinking the same thing. Finally, Naruto said it.

"Does anybody know _anything_ about those sound guys over there?" He gestured with his thumb. They all shook their heads.

"What?! You mean no one saw them in the forest?" Kiba exclaimed.

"We saw them," Shikamaru said. Choji and Ino nodded their agreement.

"You did?"

"What did they fight like?"

"Were they strong?"

"Were you scared?" Sasuke, Kiba, Naruto, and Hinata all asked.

"Well, we didn't see them actually fight. But we saw the guys they took the scroll from." Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji shared a group shudder.

"Was it bad?" Sakura asked.

"Let's just say, I don't envy the ones who have to fight them," Choji said.

At that moment, the moderator stepped out onto the middle of the floor and the nine separated to go with their senseis. Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino stood on the balcony with their sensei, Asuma, who was leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette.

"The matches will be decided by complete random." The moderator drawled. A giant screen was revealed on the wall. "So, let's get started."

The names of all the genin flashed across the screen, everyone watching it closely. Finally it stopped.

SHIKAMARU NARA

VS.

DOSU KINUTA

From up on the balcony, Choji gulped and Ino gasped. Shikamaru didn't say anything, but he definitely went a shade paler. The three looked across the room at the ninja who was making his way towards the moderator.

* * *

He was by far the scariest of the three, hunched over with his face completely covered except for one eye. Some white furry thing was on his back and he had large metal things with holes on his forearms.

Shikamaru walked down to the floor, but before he even reached the center, the sound nin lifted his arm and let out a huge blast. The moderator let out a shout of protest, as did some of the other genin.

Shikamaru leapt aside and landed several feet away. The blast roared on and hit the wall, exactly where Shikamaru had been seconds before. Rubble exploded everywhere, leaving a gaping hole, through which you could see the forest.

"What the…" Shikamaru barely had time to say a word before the Dosu let out another blast.

Up on the balcony, Choji and Asuma had to restrain Ino from leaping off and attacking the sound nin.

"LET GO!" She hissed at Choji, who squeaked and let go. _What a dirty, rotten, stinking-!_

Asuma held firm, saying, "Ino, Shikamaru's a big boy. He can handle a cheater."

The moderator stepped forward, but he then turned back to the wall, deciding to let the match go.

Shikamaru, while leaping out of the way, reached into his leg holster and pulled out a handful of kunai. He flipped himself back over the sound blast, throwing the kunai at Dosu. This caused Dosu to dodge and stop his barrage of attacks. Shikamaru landed and watched the ninja, taking a second to think.

"Well, little leaf nin, are you ready to give up?" Dosu jeered at Shikamaru, who sighed.

"This is very troublesome, but I think I'd rather beat you then be beaten myself."

_I would definitely prefer __not__ to be blasted like that wall. _His dark eyes flicked over to the smoking hole in the stone.

"You talk pretty tough for such a squirt," Dosu continued, his one eye glaring at the boy. "I guess I'll just have to teach you a lesson. Behold, the might of the sound village!"

He lifted his arm, pointing it at Shikamaru. Shikamaru braced himself, but the sound nin did not release another blast. Instead, he opened his hand and muttered something. Then an eerie, high-pitched noise reached Shikamaru's ears. Shikamaru stood still for a second, then cried out and clapped his hands over his ears.

"Shikamaru!" Ino yelled.

"What's happening to him?" Choji asked anxiously. Asuma didn't say anything.

Shikamaru fell to his knees, hands still over his ears, biting his lip.

"Ha! Still feeling tough? This is the strength of the sound village!"

Dosu watched Shikamaru on his knees, gripping his ears desperately with his hands, and laughed.

From up on the balcony: 

"It doesn't look like he's doing _anything_, so why is Shikamaru in so much pain?" Ino was very confused. Asuma opened his mouth to answer, but someone else beat him to it.

"He's a sound ninja." Sasuke's group was standing near to Team 10. Sasuke was now answering Ino's question. "He's using the sound waves and directing them at Shikamaru's ears."

"So?" Choji, Ino, and Naruto all asked, identical looks of confusion on their faces.

"Normally, the entire ear cushions the sound waves so that when they reach the eardrum, they don't hurt. But this guy is directing the sound waves directly into Shikamaru's eardrums."

Sasuke seemed to think this was a sufficient explanation, but Choji, Ino, and Naruto still looked at him with blank faces. Sasuke sighed.

"The eardrum is connected to the brain and is very sensitive. If the eardrum is attacked like that then it can throw off a person's balance. And it's very painful. Obviously."

Comprehension dawned on all three faces. "Ooohhh!"

Back on the floor:

"You can't block out the sound, boy. It would be in your best interest to admit defeat now." Dosu muttered something and the high noise stopped. Shikamaru relaxed slightly, letting his hands fall away from his ears. Ino could see blood spattered on his palms as more trickled down from the ear itself.

"Or," Dosu lifted his arm, "I could just end it now the hard wa-," he stopped suddenly. His one eye widened in horror.

"What the…I can't move!" He tried to shift, but he was completely paralyzed.

A shaky Shikamaru staggered to his feet. The sound nin mimicked his stance as a look of comprehension dawned on his face.

"YEAH, SHIKAMARU!" Ino exploded from the balcony as the thick, black shadow between Shikamaru and the sound nin became visible to all.

"Well, well, well." Shikamaru said, a small smirk making its way onto his face. "I guess you work too much with your hands and your ears to see much with your eyes, or you would have put up just a little bit of a challenge before my shadow possession jutsu caught you."

Shikamaru swayed slightly as he talked, but his voice was steady. The sound nin was silent, then started to laugh.

Shikamaru frowned. "Are you going to give up? Or do we need to do this 'the hard way'?"

Dosu stopped laughing. "I will never admit defeat to a kid like you."

Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag." He and the sound nin both reached into their leg holsters and pulled out a shuriken each.

"What's Shikamaru doing?" Now that Shikamaru was no longer losing, Choji had decided to open a bag of chips and was now crunching on them eagerly. "If he throws his shuriken, so will the sound guy."

Asuma said, "Just watch, Choji. Shikamaru knows what he's doing."

Ino didn't say anything. She was gripping the rail with white knuckled hands, her mouth a taught line on her face. Next to them, Sasuke was watching Shikamaru with a mildly interested expression.

"I guess this will end with a battle of nerves." Shikamaru drawled as he raised his shuriken. The sound nin was looking nervous.

Shikamaru/Dosu pulled back their arms, then threw the shuriken at each other. Ino gasped as Naruto yelled, "What's he doing?!"

The scene switched into slow motion. Shikamaru stood calmly, watching the shuriken fly at his head. The sound nin tried to move, his eye bulging, watching Shikamaru's shuriken shoot at his head.

_Is the boy crazy?! He's going to kill us both!_

Time returned to normal speed. At the last second, Shikamaru leaned back and the shuriken soared over his head.

The sound nin mimicked his move, but during the battle, he had ended up backed against the wall. So when he leaned back, he was caught on the wall. The shuriken hit him squarely in the forehead, right on his headband, with enough force to knock him out.

He fell to the ground with a thud.

The moderator stepped forward. "The winner of this match is Shikamaru Nara. He will be moving on to the next round."

"YEAH, SHIKAMARU!" Ino and Choji were dancing around on the balcony, cheering. Asuma smiled broadly. Sasuke was looking at Shikamaru with a new sense of respect. _Shikamaru may not act, or look, like it, but if he was motivated_, Sasuke thought, _he was a force to be reckoned with._

Shikamaru sighed heavily, yawned, and turned around, walking towards the balcony, hands in pockets. No one saw the sound ninja stir and lift his arm. By the time the moderator saw him, the blast had already been released. Shikamaru, already lost in his own thoughts, did not see the blast, or hear the roar, until it was too late.

Someone gasped a warning, but not in time.

The huge sonic blast hit Shikamaru from behind with a greater force then the one that had broken the wall. Ino gasped. Choji choked on his potato chip. Asuma's cigarette popped out of his mouth. Sakura's hands flew to her mouth as Naruto yelled.

The giant flash filled the room with light and smoke. When it cleared and people could see again, Ino and Choji leaned over the balcony, desperately looking for their teammate. But he wasn't there. Instead, a small boulder (one of the ones blasted from the wall before) was where he had been standing.

Shikamaru walked up to it, hands still in pockets. Dosu stared up at him, his one eye wide.

"Well, that wasn't very nice. One could almost say you were a sore loser," and the shadow ninja continued on, walking up the stairs to join his team.

The moderator paused, then shook his head slowly, thinking, _He's not bad. Not bad at all. _He watched as Shikamaru approached his team, then said, "Alright, let's decided the next match!"

When he reached them, Ino hugged him, causing Shikamaru's face to turn a bright, tomato red. Asuma clapped him on the shoulder and said, in his deep rumble, "Good job, Shikamaru."

"Yeah," Shikamaru drawled, "But it was way too much work."

Ino let out a frustrated huff, Choji smiled and kept eating, and Asuma chuckled.

THE END

* * *

Well, I hoped you all liked my first story. I had so much fun writing it! I will definitely be writing more, so if you liked this one, look for more stories by The Reading Maid!

Oh, please review so that I know people have actually read this, and so that I can change anything in my next story. All review, good or bad, are welcome!

**Edit September 1, 2007**: I was appalled at how many typos there were, so I had to change them. I changed a couple sentences, but overall I left it as I first read it. I see now that this is not all that great, but I don't want to change it. It's my first story I ever let be read by anyone other then myself, so I still love it. Just realize that my other stories are better. And I hope I'm not just saying that.


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